Travel: Eating vegan in France


I had some trepidations about being able to find decent vegan food when I went to France last month. Surprisingly, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. At least, once I got to Paris. In Nice, it was definitely inconvenient.

It started with a going away meal at SFO, with my hubby. Very over-priced & bland Chinese food:




Then, since I requested "pure vegetarian" meals during my flight, this is what I was fed:
1) Evening meal




2)Breakfast




Unfortunately, some of the items on my "pure vegetarian" plate were not vegan at all.

Once I arrived in Nice, I settled in to my hotel room & went exploring. I ended up finding some decent groceries in the basement of the Galerie Lafayette, just a few blocks from my hotel. This was the first night of chip sandwiches, which I pretty much had to eat during my stay.





What my chip sandwich looked like:






The next day, I went shopping at Monoprix and picked up some fresh fruit. I found out that you have to print up labels for your produce, which was a bit inconvenient at first.





One of my favorite foods to discover was haricots verts, with a dijon mustard dressing. My first one was from the Nice Monoprix.

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While in Nice, I ate in my hotel room. The one time I tried to eat out turned into a weird experience. After that, I figured it was just easier (& safer) to eat in my own quarters.

So, I had some hope for Paris, because I had reserved an apartment (complete with a kitchen). Thankfully, I was right! My apartment, located in the 9éme arrondissement, had plenty of boulangeries and grocery stores. In fact, this is what I found, at Franprix, my first night there:


So much good stuff, including almond milk & a vegan pesto!


This was my first dinner in Paris. C'est bon!








My second grocery trip had me at both Franprix & Monoprix. I found a vegan soy "steak" and freshly baked bread, as well as a delicious olive pasta sauce & soy yoghurt.








My Parisian frigo, full of vegan noms.





The soy "steaks", up close. This is the Tomate-Basilic flavor.





My 2nd dinner in Paris, with the soy "steak" & bread. Very filling!





At a produce market, in the Rue Cler area. I wish I had purchased those berries.





Though I never did eat at the veg restos or shop at the health stores I'd heard about, I did find some cool stuff. Brandi & I spent Saturday near Les Halles & the 1st arrondissement and I finally stepped into the French version of Whole Foods. Unfortunately, I didn't purchase anything but the idea of flavored tofu (especially the olive) was most intriguing.






That same day, Brandi & I stopped in at a café, on the Rue Montorgueil. She had the cheese plate & I had what I thought was bruschetta (sans fromage). Looks more like pizza, non? We both had vin chaud.






I tried to finish up what groceries were left in our frigo but we had one last meal out the day before we left. My salade & pommes frites were fantastic. Wish I had only gone sooner.





All in all, a mostly positive experience eating as a vegan in Paris. It would've been a different story if I didn't have my own kitchen. This might just be the way for me to be happy while traveling. I'm already looking at another international trip, next year. Back to Paris & London. But, at least I know what I'm in for!

Why I hate eating out

Since I moved out from my mil's house, I have 2 well-known veg-friendly restos in my neighborhood. I've eaten there occasionally but am officially fed-up.



a teriyaki "burger", from Au Lac, and sun-dried pasta salad & chocolate cupcake, from Charlotte's Bakery



the steamed veggies that came on the side of my teriyaki "burger". They're going in the trash.

Ignorant comments and surprising cruelty




The other day, I was driving a co-worker home. We had to stop at the local PetCo as my dogs needed some food and he needed to pick up a filter for his fish. When we get back into the car, the subject turns to my dogs' diet-they are all vegan, as well as the cats-who are not.

Anyway, what infuriated me was the ignorant and unsubstantiated claims coming out of his mouth. He stated that dogs were carnivores and cats were omnivores because they ate grass. WTF????

In doing research, I found out that dogs, like us, are omnivores and scavengers whereas cats were obligate carnivores. In other words, dogs could live healthily & happily on a veg diet whereas a cat could not.

Also, several vets have confirmed that our diet choice, for the dogs and cats, was sound. Their health has checked out fine and we are, in no way, endangering our pets. In fact, their main veterinarian was quite supportive.

On to the other subject. Lately, I've been reading the Anne of Green Gables series. For some reason, I was never interested in the series as a child. Currently, I'm into the third book, Anne of the Island. The whole series has been mostly delightful, save for a few instances of exploitation and speciesism. Imagine my shock when I read the following two passages, one from chapter 16 and the other from the next chapter, 17.



In chapter 16, Anne and her friends are settling into place they've rented for the school term. A stray cat decides to adopt Anne and the others are fearful that Rusty will start fights with the other cats the housekeeper will bring when she moves in. Phillipa, Anne's flighty friend, suggests they chloroform him as it is the "most humane way". It goes downhill from there. Here is the passage, after Phillipa's rather graphic description of how to do it:

Accordingly the chloroform was procured and the next morning Rusty was lured to his doom. He ate his breakfast, licked his chops, and climbed into Anne's lap. Anne's heart misgave her. This poor creature loved her-trusted her. How could she be a party to his destruction?

"Here, take him." she said hastily to Phil. "I feel like a murderess."

"He won't suffer, you know," comforted Phil, but Anne had fled.

The fatal deed was done in the back porch. Nobody went near it that day. But at dusk Phil had declared that Rusty must be buried.

"Pris and Stella must dig his grave in the orchard," Phil decreed, "and Anne must come with me to lift the box off. That's part I always hate."

The two conspirators tip-toed reluctantly to the back porch. Phil gingerly lifted the stone she had put on the box. Suddenly, faint but distinct, sounded an unmistakable mew under the box.

"He-he isn't dead," gasped Anne, sitting blankly down on the kitchen doorstep.

"He must be," said Phil incredulously.

Another tiny mew proved that he wasn't. The two girls stared at each other.

"What will we do?" questioned Anne.

"Why in the world don't you come?" demanded Stella, appearing in the doorway. "We've got the grave ready. 'What, silent still and silent all?'" she quoted teasingly.

"'Oh, no, the voices of the dead
Sound like the distant torrent's fall.'" promptly counter-quoted Anne, pointing solemnly to the box.

A burst of laughter broke the tension.

"We must leave him here till morning," said Phil, replacing the stone. "He hasn't mewed for five minutes. Perhaps the mews we heard were his dying groan. Or perhaps we imagined them, under the strain of our guilty consciences."

But, when the box was lifted in the morning, Rusty bounded at one gay leap to Anne's shoulder where he began to lick her face affectionately. Never was there a cat more decidedly alive.

"Here's a knot hole in the box," groaned Phil. "I never saw it. That's why he didn't die. Now we've got to do it all over again."

"No, we haven't," declared Anne suddenly. "Rusty isn't going to be killed again. He's my cat-and you've just got to make the best of it."

"Oh, well, if you'll settle with Aunt Jimsie and the Sarah-cat." said Stella, with the air of one washing her hands of the whole affair.

Then, a few pages later, the chapter ends on this note:

Eventually Joseph and Rusty accepted the situation and from sworn enemies became sworn friends. They slept on the same cushion with their paws about each other, and gravely washed each other's faces.

"We've all got used to each other," said Phil. "And I've learned how to wash dishes and sweep a floor."

"But you needn't try to make us believe you can chloroform a cat," laughed Anne.

"It was all the fault of the knothole," protested Phil.

"It was a good thing the knothole was there," said Aunt Jamesina rather severely. "Kittens have to be drowned, I admit, or the world would be overrun. But no decent, grown-up cat should be done to death-unless he sucks eggs."

Then, in the next chapter, Davy, a 10-year old twin who lives at the Green Gables, wrote a letter to Anne, which contained this excerpt:

Mr. Harrison wanted to get rid of his dog. So he hunged him once but he come to life and scooted for the barn while Mr. Harrison was digging the grave, so he hunged him again and he stayed dead that time"

Ok......nice to read about the cruelty inflicted on non-human animals because they are unwanted or have outgrown their usefulness. Though, to be honest, not much has changed.

Still, I was taken about by the frank description of violence, in a children's book. I guess it's a monument to its era. I suppose I'm going to have read it with more caution from here on. This was a series I was thinking of reading to Caleigh, when she's older, but am not so sure now. Very disappointing.

Shelters who transfer pets to labs

This was in my email inbox this morning:
MI- Halt Transfer of Shelter's Animals to Vivisection

Apparently, there is a vote, Monday 12 January 2009, that concerns the renewal of a contract between Michigan's Montcalm County shelter and R & R Research (a Class B dealer who takes the cats and dogs from the shelter then re-sells them to animal research labs).

I didn't know this but Michigan is one of thirteen states that allows the sale of sheltered animals into animal research. At the very least, I am appalled though not surprised. I've been reading Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation & The No Kill Revolution in America by Nathan J. Winograd. as well as Plague Dogs by Richard Adams and they both mirror, to some extent, what's going on with the shelter.

I agree with the email that the practice of selling non-human animals into the vivisection industry is repugnant. Especially as these doomed pets have already suffered grievously "at the hands of humans and a system whose original design was to help them". It's disgusting and completely unethical.

Also, according to the email, Michigan Animal News reports that in 2007 Montcalm adopted or returned to owners less than 10% of all pets received. Sounds like they're not making an effort to reduce the numbers in their shelters, knowing they can profit by selling them to the Class B dealers.


Once I'm done with this entry, I'll be contacting the local politicians to add my voice to the opposition. I rarely speak up on issues anymore but this one grabbed my attention. And, then, maybe order Dealing Dogs, which I've been reluctant to do because of the subject matter.

Oh, and in researching this article, I found an actual site dedicated supplying those in the "animal research profession". Words fail me. R & R Research is listed on their site.

More on Class B dealers, etc here and here.